Too many of the world's problems are a result of people being afraid of change or not being willing to understand people around them so as we get ready to wrap up 2014, I came up with 14 things one can do to understand the world around us or use our differences to make a difference.

Violence is violence, no matter how much we categorize, justify or classify it. When one's level of vulnerability plays a role in violence, however, it doesn't matter who you are, or whether you can stand or sit.

I believe we have to begin to ask ourselves, do we want to continue on for the next decade caught in another war in the Middle East? Maybe we can begin outlining strategies to help change what seems to be the course of the future.

Author Brittani Sonnenberg has received high acclaim globally, including The New York Times Books Editors' Choice, for her new novel Home Leave. In it she masterfully narrates the layers of stories, anxieties, and familiarities that seep in and out of the heads of women and their family members who embody this itinerant lifestyle.

The 20th century challenge was for Scotland to maintain its cultural identity while at the same time cooperating with the four nations of the U.K.. Now the challenge is even greater: to uphold cultural traditions and national identities in a world where there are no such things as nation-only solutions. By answering those who claim that independence can make a difference with policies that show interdependence can make the difference, Scotland can show the way forward by thinking big and not small.

Why is the AFL-CIO standing in strong solidarity with the workers of Uruguay? We believe that the people, through their elected officials, should be the ones to determine which policies are best for their health, their environment and the general welfare.

For centuries, we as a race have been migrating to different lands, exchanging goods, services and ideas to improve our lives. "With globalization our interconnectedness and interdependence have grown."

Our elected representatives would rather upset those who come back from the office or the factory than those returning from the supermarket. The person elected chooses to encourage the lowering of product prices because that appeals to the consumer, even though this decrease favors imports and hurts local workers. The elected official chooses to increase taxes on work and to lower taxes on consumption: more income tax and less value added tax.

The future of learning should be such that it gives greater flexibility to the learner, confidence that the self can learn anything, basic idea clarity on complex thoughts and processes and awareness about the world at large and tolerance.

Innovation follows production, not the other way around. Most jobs are in production, not innovation. If politicians truly care about American jobs and innovation, they should craft policies to ensure production stays in America.

A new initiative at the International Institute of Education is sparking conversation, asking us how we can increase the cultural awareness in our students and encourage them to learn in environments outside of their comfort zone.

Globalization has mostly benefited the rich and the rising Asian middle class at the expense of the middle class in the West. The choice would seem either plutocracy and globalization -- or populism and a halt to globalization. Another solution would imply more substantial redistribution policies in the rich world.

It's no wonder that synonyms for employee, manager and work include words like cog, slave driver and drudgery. We have literally built our organizations from the ground up with the notion that work has to be unpleasant. It's time to challenge convention.

You have to listen closely to grasp the wisdom of his views. His rapid-fire mind spews out a deluge of statistics in a heavy Slavic accent -- with a crusty disregard for political correctness and conventional wisdom. And his key concept is counterintuitive: less enables more.

A few months ago I was asked by Alin Uhlmann, president of Tasuleasa Social, if I could help Romanian entrepreneurs learn how to present their ideas and accomplishments to international partners and investors. Inspired by my discussion with Mr. Uhlmann, I put together five essential issues that can be helpful in intercultural professional relationships.

"Where are you from?" is a question I can never quite answer without using the phrase "Then I moved to..." five times. A single place that I can call 'home' has never existed -- the world, and its countless cultures, is where I find solace.